The Coupeville High School volleyball team began Olympic League play by clubbing visiting Chimacum 3-0 Tuesday, Sept. 13.
The Wolves won 25-16, 25-19, 25-7.
As in its season opener last week, Coupeville used a strong service attack to collect the win. The Wolves, showing remarkable consistency, collected 10 aces in each set.
The most impressive game was the last when the Wolves, with Lauren Rose at the service line, raced to a 20-0 lead. Rose had nine aces during the run while Mikayla Elfrank recorded three kills and Katrina McGranahan two.
“When it’s 20-0, it’s fun,” coach Cory Whitmore said. “Everything gets better.” It provides a boost in confidence he said, which in turn helps the hitters: “We found the court with our hitting in the third set.” Chimacum won the first point of the night for its only lead during the match.
The Cowboys hung around most of the first set, trailing only 16-13 before the Wolves closed with a 9-3 run. Hope Lodell drilled three aces during the final rush.
Lodell had four aces and McGranahan three as Coupeville jumped to an 8-1 lead in the second set.
Chimacum, down by as many as 10, made a late run to trim the score to 23-19 before Lodell ended the game with two kills.
For the match, Elfrank paced the hitting attack with seven kills.
“She has been working hard to become more consistent,” Whitmore said.
Rose finished with 10 aces and six assists; Lodell added seven aces and three kills; and McGranahan tallied six aces and four kills.
Valen Trujillo and Payton Aparicio led the defense with eight and five digs, respectively.
“Stats tell a certain amount of the story,” Whitmore said, “but not everything. We had energy — some jitters at the start — then we settled in.
“I’m happy with our serve receive, but we definitely need to tighten up our hitting.”
Coupeville (2-1) plays Bellevue Christian (1-1) in a non-league match at home at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20.
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Valen Trujillo passes in Tuesday’s match. She led the team with eight digs. Photo by John Fisken.
